Denver Broncos' Gaffney, Lloyd, Royal share wealth

RAIDERS

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, October 23, 2010

The Broncos traded star receiver Brandon Marshall to Miami in April, and in his place three pairs of hands emerged.

Jabar Gaffney (37 for 408 yards), Brandon Lloyd (34 for 663) and Eddie Royal (32 for 367) all have more than 30 catches and will try and squeeze the visiting Raiders for a win Sunday.

Kyle Orton is on pace to pass for a league-record 5,179 yards, and Lloyd, the ex-49er, leads the NFL in receiving yards.

"They have so many weapons, and Kyle is throwing the ball to everyone," Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said. "They'll spread you out. They come out with three receivers pretty much every play because they want to throw."

If the two 2-4 teams' last meeting tells us anything, Orton will go to whichever receiver Asomugha isn't covering. Orton completed seven passes for 73 yards and one touchdown to Marshall last Dec. 20 on the 12 plays Asomugha wasn't on him man-to-man. On the 30 other plays when Asomugha was covering him, Marshall didn't catch a pass.

"We're going to be real smart about what we do in terms of challenging (Asomugha) too many times," Broncos coach Josh McDaniels said, "because he's proved over the course of many, many years that that's not a very good formula."

Chris Johnson was the other starting cornerback last season, and he will be on the field a lot Sunday along with new starter Stanford Routt as the Raiders will be in nickel coverage often.

Routt has always thought highly of the acrobatic Lloyd, who had 733 yards for San Francisco in 2005 but has been on three teams since.

"He's always been a good receiver," Routt said. "He's just playing in a good scheme, good quarterback. They're getting the ball to him, and he's going to outwork you. He's a hard worker. He's going to work back to the ball, and you've got to work just as hard to keep him from getting the football."

It will be hard, as the Raiders are 23rd in the NFL in passing yards per play given up, at 7.34. San Diego threw for 415 yards against Oakland two weeks ago, yet Lloyd politely returned Routt's compliment.

"As far as athletic ability, (the Raiders) have the best athletes in the league," he said. "Per player, they're the best."

Lloyd's emergence

Broncos receiver Brandon Lloyd, formerly of the 49ers, leads the NFL in receiving yards through six weeks. A look at what he's done this year and what he did with the 49ers: